Interesting thought- Linn &

Norman, the Linn LP12 is not a 'right out of box' set it on the stand and good to go type of product. It has always needed to be set up by a competent dealer and "fettled" ( as the Brits say) to work its best. Somewhat like tuning a race car. If your dealer was unable to do this for you, again it was not the Linn's fault, but certainly one could look at your dealer! 
However, it has been my experience, that once the table is set up 'correctly' then it tends to stay that way through time and deliver the sound for which it is known.

daveyf (and only because you continue this),

" IF HW at VPI is trying to get close to the sound of the master tape, good for him, but I know he has a very long way to still go." And you would "know" that because . . . ?

" If the gear measures great and sounds great...then it is a winner...conversely if it measures poorly..and to me sounds great, it’s still a winner. " I would agree if you substitute "accurate" for "great". As someone famously wrote: A piano should sound like a piano!" The problem with may reviewers, not to mention audiophiles, is that they rarely, if ever, listen to unamplified instruments and singers and don’t know how they really sound. So much of what is written is so purely subjective: The reviews usually conclude by mentioning a number of recordings, usually recent ones, and their conclusion that they "like" the recordings as played by the component under review.

I can’t speak for the latest Linns but the Linns I have heard, admittedly going back a while, were notorious for sounding warm and rolling the frequency extremes. This results in a sound many people "like." But it has hardly been accurate.

That, and the complications of set-up requiring dealer interventions, put Linn out of the running for me. Obviously, YMMV and obviously does.

What upper end turntable is plonk and play?
They all sound their best when set up by a competent dealer.
"Rolled off" frequency extremes are definitely not something I hear from my LP12's.
Imho, the LP12 has been around so long that many opinions  have been aggregated over the years in the audiophile community , many of them propagated by people who have not actually heard a properly set up deck. 

I get my LP 12 "tuned" perhaps once in 5 years. My car is in the shop for routine maintenance far more often. 

melm,

I completely agree with you.  I listen to live music often and that is my benchmark.  I mentioned the second generation master tape as something that anyone with a quality open reel deck could enjoy and compare their analog rig too.

My Linn sounded soft, and very warm.  I also felt it sounded compressed compared to my idler drive tables and a couple of direct drive tables I've heard.  

My personal experience concludes that it is very difficult to get the table to sing. My purchase and upgrade path was nearly 10 years long.  Nothing should take that long to sound right or be that difficult to dial in.

It could also be a simple matter of the fact that I don't like the sound of a Linn.  No biggie.  I know a number of audio nuts that don't care for the sound of idler drive tables and thats fine too.